Glossy book jackets gleam irresistibly through the glass display case in the lobby of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. Around the corner, five wonderfully old-fashioned wooden bookcases hold scores of new titles and classics still in print from Stephen Aaron's Stage Fright to Robert Wallerstein's Forty-Two Lies in Treatment, all luring visitors to the New York's Bookstore.
It's the brainchild of Teruko S. Neuwalder, clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and formerly a member of the New York Institute's Board of Trustees. Dr. Neuwalder says that as a board member she was concerned about the Institute's financial short-fall. Then her husband, a physician but not an analyst read that the bookstore at the Metropolitan Museum of Art sells enough to make up half the museum's deficit “And,” she adds, “when I would suggest a psychoanalytic book to residents, they often complained that it was hard to find. Most medical school bookstores don't carry standard psychoanalytic texts.”
So, last May Neuwalder went to the Institute's Trustees and Directors to propose that the New York open its own bookstore. At the time, in an informal arrangement publishers would ship titles to the Institute's library, but only members and candidates could purchase them. There was no procedure for other mental health professionals and interested lay people to participate. Now, of course, they're welcome.
With an initial budget of $5,000, Neuwalder opened the New York's Bookstore in part of that library space. She hired Richard Schweitzer, a former specialty bookstore employee, to manage the operation. After researching publishers' payment procedures and discounts, Neuwalder asked three members of the Library Committee to suggest the Bookstore's initial stock. B. Bernie Herron, Arlene Heyman, and Charles Sarner surveyed course instructors at the Institute for their required and suggested reading lists. They checked out standard bibliographies. Ultimately, their recommendations became the core of the Bookstore's opening offerings, which included titles from Harvard, Yale, The Analytic Press, IUP, Aronson, Norton, and others. Neuwalder also tried some experiments, adding journals and trade books, fiction and biographies to the shelves.
Neuwalder and Schweitzer also compared notes with Margaret Johnson, an administrative assistant at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Four years ago, LAPSI was the first analytic organization to open a bookstore. They currently carry approximately 500 titles.
“I'm looking for Mardi Horowitz's States of Mind,” says a Metropolitan Hospital resident to Richard Schweitzer one Thursday evening just after 6:00 pm. (The Bookstore is open 20 hours a week, mostly at night.) Schweitzer quickly scans another Bookstore asset—several shelves and an old bookcart loaded with used books (at about a third of the publisher's price). “No, I'm afraid I don't have that. Would you like to order it if it's still in print?” Schweitzer says he is averaging about a dozen special orders a week.
And how did the resident who works about a mile away, hear about the Bookstore? “We send out flyers every two months,” reports Neuwalder, “advertising new books and group discounts.” “I saw a notice at the hospital,” says the resident.
The Bookstore stocks only a few paperbacks. Schweitzer explains, “Most of our titles are published only in hardcover.” Neuwalder adds, “I would rather indulge myself with a nice book. I just like hardcover. But it's expensive; our books run up to $65.00. The younger residents seem to be satisfied with paperback, and that may signal a change for the future.”
Choosing new books remains a challenge. The original committee reads book reviews, consults catalogs, and keeps track of works in progress. “Sometimes we are approached to add titles, and we encourage people to make suggestions,” says Neuwalder.
Six months after the Bookstore opened in September 1989, Schweitzer reports grossing approximately $27,000, and Neuwalder says she's “just over the scared part, now that it's working.” They anticipate showing a profit at the end of the Bookstore's first year.
And there's an added dividend for browsers and buyers, Teruko Neuwalder points out. “The Bookstore brings together people from different backgrounds, different institutes. It's a nice, collegial feeling—and we offer books over a broad range of interests, not just psychoanalysis. Everything from Klein to Sullivan, many books on psychotherapy, some on psychopharmacology, even the DSM III-R
“Everybody likes it,” she says enthusiastically, “but now they want to know when we're going to install easy chairs and the coffee machine!”